


Family Reunion

by moogsthewriter



Series: Know my name (as it's called again) [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:58:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3669873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moogsthewriter/pseuds/moogsthewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not the triumphant family reunion Raph had in mind, he thinks as he stands in the crow’s nest of his ship, narrowing his eyes at the sight of four Fire Navy vessels on the horizon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> A continuation of my fusion of TMNT and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Basic knowledge of ATLA is helpful but (hopefully) not required to understand what’s going on; I’ve used a blend of 2K3 and 2012 for TMNT. This oneshot takes place right after “Know my name (as it’s called again).” Unbeta'd.

This is not the triumphant family reunion Raph had in mind.

Well, okay, the part where they all worked together for the first time - Leo with his waterbending to “see” through the ice to find who they were looking for in the first place; Don using his earthbending to chip away the ice without so much as a moment’s hesitation as to whether his powers would be too dangerous; Raph with his firebending to speed up the process a bit; even Michelangelo’s instinctual use of airbending to finish removing the ice - was pretty much _exactly_ what Raph had in mind. Not so much the scenario, perhaps, but the feeling of _rightness_ , of the missing piece falling into place was all that he had imagined and more. 

Nearly getting trampled by a confused and disoriented air bison wasn’t really in Raph’s plan - mostly because he had never even thought of such a possibility. Fortunately, Leo managed to shield them with some ice long enough for the beast to calm down and realize they were as likely to hurt Michelangelo as it was - that is to say, not at all.

Even Michelangelo passing out on them almost immediately after he woke up wasn’t a surprise - Don had done the same thing when they rescued him from that jail cell in Omashu, and Leo hadn’t been much better. So not an ideal situation, certainly, but not unexpected. 

_But_ _this_ , Raph thinks as he stands in the crow’s nest of his ship, narrowing his eyes at the sight of four Fire Navy vessels on the horizon, _this was_ never _part of the plan_.

"Leo!" he shouts in warning, bypassing the ladder to jump down to the deck.

Leo scowls, keeping the motions of his hands and arms smooth and steady as he looks over his shoulder. The waves pushing the ship along at a steady pace don't even slow. "How many?"

"Four that I could see," Raph says, crossing his arms to keep from touching the scar over his eye. "Judging by the amount of smoke they're pumping out, they'll be on us in less than an hour."

Leo's scowl deepens. "Any chance they haven't spotted us? We're smaller, no smoke-"

Raph shakes his head once. He swallows hard, his shoulders curving in reflexively as he says, "It's the Elite Guard, Leo."

Leo hisses a curse and halts his movements. "You're sure," he says, and it isn't a question - of course Raph's sure, he was _in_ the Fire Navy, he knows those ships better than most - but Raph nods anyway. "There's no point in trying to move without smoke, then - can we outrun them with the engines fired up?" Leo asks.

"It might buy us an extra twenty minutes or so - maybe thirty, if we can get that air bison to start flying and lighten the load some - but even that's being optimistic," Raph says, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the bison sleeping at the bow. He glances toward the horizon behind them, where deceptively tiny puffs of smoke are hovering. "They know, Leo. I don't know how they know, but the Foot know we found him. Or at least that we were close. There's no reason for the Elite to be this far south."

The words taste sour even as he says them - the thought of a traitor in their midst doesn't rest well at all - and judging by the dark look on Leo's face, Raph's not the only one thinking that. "We'll worry about that later," Leo says after a moment. "Right now, we have to focus on not getting caught. We’re in no shape to face the Elite."

"Well, if you've got ideas, I'm all ears, bro," Raph says, raising an eyebrow.

"I've got one, but you're not going to like it," Leo replies immediately. When Raph raises his other eyebrow in silent prompting, he says, "We fly out on the bison. And we sink the ship."

Raph blinks a couple times, heartbeat quickening and throat closing at the thought of soaring thousands of feet above the ground, nothing between him and the ground except clouds and air and a sky bison that’s been encased in ice for the better part of two years.

Then the scar over his eye twitches, and he thinks of what would happen if the Elite captured his brothers. "Fine," he says. He glances around the ship briefly. It’s one of his last remaining ties to both the Fire Navy and the Resistance, and it’s been his, Don, and Leo’s home for the better part of the last year, but any sentiment at the thought of sending it to the bottom of the ocean is drowned by the impending threat to his brothers. “You get the charges set and see if you can get the bison up; I’ll get Don and Mikey.”

The nickname rolls off his tongue naturally, and he blinks in surprise at how _right_ it feels. Leo looks just as astonished for a moment before his lips curl into a small, disbelieving smile. “We really found him,” Leo says, almost breathless with disbelief and wonder at the thought. “Raph, we _found_ him.”

“Yeah, we did,” Raph replies with a similar smile. Then he glances toward the horizon again and squares his shoulders, eyes narrowing. “Let’s make sure we keep him.”

Leo’s expression firms as he nods, clapping Raph on the shoulder before heading down into hold. Raph heads for the door leading to their quarters and opens it without knocking.

He’s not surprised to see Don moving around the cabin, gathering up their gear, rolling up their extra sets of clothes into tight bundles to shove into the packs. Leo’s waterbending may not have been enough to get the ship moving at full speed, but it was fast enough that the lack of movement is immediately noticeable. Mikey’s still asleep, tucked in under a pile of blankets on Don’s cot. “I take it we have trouble,” Don says shortly without looking up at Raph.

Raph swallows hard, _knowing_ how Don will react. “It’s the Elite.”

Don’s pauses; it’s only for a moment, but it’s more than enough for Raph to recognize his fear. His shoulders and back are still stiff with tension as he resumes cramming things into the packs. “What’s the plan?”

“Leo’s grabbing the charges,” Raph replies, moving over to Mikey’s side. “We’re going to take to the skies.”

Don sends Raph a sharp look over his shoulder. “On the sky bison? It was all we could do just to get him on the ship!”

“I know.” Raph sighs, crouching down and rubbing a gentle hand over the tattoo on Mikey’s forehead. Don materializes by his side as Mikey stirs at the contact. Raph can’t help but smile a little at the slivers of blue that peer out as Mikey blinks up at them through bleary eyes. “Up and at ’em, little brother, we could use a hand,” he says gruffly.

“What’s wrong?” Mikey croaks - at least, that’s what Raph assumes he said, as it sounded more like, “whazzang?”

“We’ve got trouble on our tail - think you can convince your buddy the bison to give us a lift out of here?” Raph asks.

Mikey blinks at them a couple of times, taking a moment to process the question. His eyes suddenly fly open and a panicked look crosses his face as he surges upward. “Klunk? What happened, where’s Klunk?”

“Klunk’s your sky bison, right? Don’t worry, Mikey, he’s fine,” Raph reassures him, ducking under one of Mikey’s wild swings as he fights to get his arms out of the blankets wrapped around him and putting a calming hand on his brother’s shoulder. “He’s out on the deck, enjoying some nice fresh air.”

“We’re hoping he can fly us up and away to safety,” Don adds, grabbing Mikey’s flailing hand in a firm grip. “And we need you to tell us how to do that. We’ve got Foot on our tail.”

Mikey scowls at that, though the impact is lessened a little by the yawn that threatens to split his face open a second later. “Okay, okay,” he groans through the yawn, “just give me a sec to - _what are you doing?_ ”

Raph can’t help the eye roll at the startled shriek as he scoops Mikey up into his arms, blankets and all; he also can’t help the frown at just how _light_ Mikey is. He knows Leo had no problem carrying Mikey to the ship, and he had heard Don commenting on how much smaller Mikey is than the rest of them - freezing yourself in a hunk of ice at fifteen and then not growing for two years will do that to you - but still. _April_ is heavier than this, and he’d always thought she was pretty small for her age, too.

“Trust me, Mikey, this is faster, and at this point, we need all the speed we can get,” Raph says as he carries Mikey through the door onto the deck.

Mikey scowls deeply for a moment until he spots the air bison that’s currently giving Leo a death stare for waking him. “ _Klunk!_ ” he exclaims brightly, wrenching himself free with a puff of air - Raph can already tell _that’s_ going to get annoying - and stumbling over to the bison’s side, shedding blankets as he goes.

Klunk immediately perks at seeing Mikey coming toward him, turning his great head just in time for Mikey to throw himself down in the dark, arrow-shaped patch of fur on the beast’s forehead, arms thrown wide in a hug. “Man, I am so glad you’re okay, buddy,” Mikey says, voice muffled by the fur. Klunk snuffs out a sound of agreement before tilting his head to give Mikey a giant lick, lifting the tiny airbender right off his feet for a moment. Mikey giggles even as he stumbles into Leo, his legs still a little shaky from his time spent in the ice. 

Raph smiles a little at the sight - despite the trepidation he feels at the thought of having to _fly_ on that thing shortly - and turns when he hears footsteps behind him. Don’s there, dragging the three packs behind him. Raph grabs one and slings it over his shoulder before grabbing the second and jogging over to where Mikey is leaning against Klunk’s nose and Leo is rolling out the last of the line of fuse. “How much weight can this guy carry, Mikey?” Raph asks.

Mikey frowns a little in concern, rubbing Klunk’s nose. The air bison huffs, blinking long and slow at them. “Normally, quite a lot, but right now… how far do we have to go?”

“We have about another day’s sailing at least before we’d make landfall in friendly territory,” Leo says.

“We’ll be going against air currents, too,” Don adds as he comes up behind Raph, carrying the third bag and the blankets Mikey had dropped on the deck earlier. Leo joins them a moment later, exchanging a small smile with Raph as he completes the small circle, and despite the serious threat at their backs - and closing in fast, judging from the growing smoke cloud on the horizon - Raph can’t help but marvel again at the _rightness_ of seeing all of his brothers here, together, at long last. 

Mikey’s frown deepens as he eyes the three packs. “It’s going to be rough on him with just the four of us then, I think,” he says. “Do we have to take _all_ of that?”

Don shakes his head. “I prioritized the packing,” he says. “We should be fine if we take just this pack-” he points at the one slung on Raph’s back “-and these blankets,” he finishes, holding up the bundle of fabric in his arms. 

“Okay,” Mikey says. With another blast of air, he launches himself up and settles into the lotus position atop Klunk’s head. “You should be able to climb up on his left shoulder - don’t do the right, it gives him fits sometimes.”

Leo nods and starts climbing. “Raph, light the fuse as we’re flying away,” he says as he climbs, Don right behind him. “If we fly low and over the water for awhile and use the smoke from the ship for cover, we might be able to keep the Foot from learning about Klunk, at least for a little while longer.”

“Sit just behind his front shoulder blades,” Mikey says as Leo and Don make it up to where he’s sitting. “That’s where he’d normally have a saddle; it’s the smoothest place to ride.”

“Then why are you up here?” Don asks, tossing a blanket over Mikey’s shoulders. “And keep this - I can tell you’re shivering, we need to keep your body temperature up.”

“This is where I always sit,” Mikey says, taking the blanket without protest and wrapping it more tightly around himself before leaning over to scratch the fur a few inches above one of Klunk’s horns. “Isn’t that right, buddy?” he croons as Klunk rumbles in contentment.

“Raph, come on, we’ve got to go,” Leo calls.

“Yeah, yeah,” Raph growls, one hand gripped tight in Klunk’s fur and feet still planted firmly on the deck. He’s not a fan of heights, never has been, and this is going to be _awful_.

“Raph,” Mikey calls softly. Raph’s head snaps up, eyes wide as he looks at his brother. It’s the first time Mikey has called one of them by name.

Mikey’s smile is confident and his eyes are warm as he says, “I’m not going to let you fall, bro.”

Raph isn’t sure what to say to that - he’s the protector of this family, that’s _his_ role, no matter what Leo says - and he’s not sure he could speak around the sudden lump in his throat, anyway, so he just nods and starts climbing, resolutely _not_ thinking about what will happen next.

A hand appears in front of his face, and he looks up to see Don there, a small but genuine smile on his face - a rare sight to see. “Mikey will make sure you don’t fall, and you can make sure _I_ don’t fall,” he says quietly. His other hand has a white-knuckle grip in Klunk’s fur.

_Earthbender_ , Raph thinks. Don’s not a fan of small spaces, not after what happened in Omashu, but he, too, has never been a fan of heights. “Deal,” he mutters, grabbing Don’s hand and allowing his brother to pull him up the rest of the way.

“You guys ready?” Mikey asks, twisting around to look over his shoulder as they settle in on Klunk’s back, Don holding firmly to the pack still slung around Raph’s shoulders and Leo bringing up the rear, looking like a kid in a candy shop. From this height, Raph can clearly see the smoke of the approaching Elite ships; he’s pretty sure he even sees the top of a smokestack.

Raph takes one last, long look at his ship; then he builds a small ball of flame in one hand. “Take us out of here, little brother.”

Mikey nods and faces forward, shifting out of lotus position and leaning forward over Klunk’s head. “Klunk - yip-yip!”

The huge breath Klunk takes is Raph’s only warning before the sky bison takes off with a growling huff, slapping his great tail on the ship’s deck. Raph’s stomach is in his throat at the sensation of flight, but he maintains his composure well enough to toss his fireball onto the fuse before they’ve gone too far; then he squeezes his eyes shut and plunges both hands deep into Klunk’s fur and hangs on for dear life as Don yelps in his ear and Leo lets out an excited shout.

They travel for nearly two minutes before they hear the thunderous explosion of the charges going off. Raph opens his eyes at the noise, but he doesn’t look back at the ship he knows must be rapidly sinking beneath the waves by now. He’ll never be free from his memories of the Fire Navy; even without the scar from the agni kai, too much of Raph’s training stems from his service to ever fully let him forget his time there.

But that was then. Now it’s the start of something new.

Because right now, Don and Leo are at his back, laughing as Klunk’s six massive paws skim the surface of the water and send spray arcing into the air, the water droplets glittering in the sunlight. And in front of him is Mikey, hollering in glee with one hand thrust into the air, reaching out toward the ocean spray, and the other holding the blanket around his neck as the fabric billows out behind him like a cape.

His brothers are _here_ , laughing and shouting and vibrant and _alive_ , and Raph can’t help the giant grin that breaks out across his face.

_This_ is the triumphant family reunion he had in mind.


End file.
